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Friday, April 15, 2011

Tissue Paper Egg

This egg is what you will be making. I want to first say that this idea I came up with on my own. If by chance it resembles someones tutorial I did not copy from it. (smile)

I have made many chicken eggs with beads and ribbon through out the years. I would blow out the yolk and let it dry out for a couple days and then decorate them. After many years of storage they become brittle and crack, so I was trying to find another way of making eggs. This is what I came up with, they are very inexpensive to make.

Supplies: Flowers from RSMobleys Designs Deepest
Sympathy Lattice Card Here
Colored Tissue Paper
Plastic Eggs that have flat bottom and open length
wise instead of accross. You want a flat bottom
so they will sit and not roll around.
Mod Podge

I purchased all supplies at the dollar store except for the Mod Podge.

I started out with this egg and cut the ears off. You can click on the photos, they open up larger so you can get a closer look if you need to.

Next I put some water in a small dish and added some Mod Podge, it's very watered down.

I cut some tissue paper in strips and not in any particular size as you can see by my strips. This was my first try at making the egg.

Next I dipped the paint brush in the Mod Podge solution adding strips of tissue paper and pasting it to the inside of the egg. You want to make sure the strip goes up the side of the egg a bit like in my photo. I don't know how many layers I added, maybe 7-9. I did not count.You want to make sure you don't see any of the pink of the egg showing thru the tissue paper. You will do the second egg the same way.

Now, once you are finished adding all the tissue paper to your eggs you will put a coat of non-diluted Mod Podge on the inside of the egg being very careful and painting it on gently. Because the tissue paper is wet you don't want to shred it. Once the first layer of Mod Podge is on you will let the eggs dry overnight.

You are going to apply several coats of Mod Podge letting each of the coats dry before applying another one. I applied 5 coats to each egg.Once the last coat is dry the tissue paper egg will pop right out. This is what is looks like in the photo below.

Now you will apply 5 coats on the outside of the egg, letting each coat dry in between. Important:Before applying the first coat you want to wet your brush with water and brush over the top of your egg. If you still have your diluted Mod Podge you can use that or make more. DO NOT SATURATE IT! While still wet you will apply the non diluted Mod Podge over the top of your egg. You can hold the excess edges while applying the coats of Mod Podge. You don't want to apply it below the line, because later you will be cutting it off.

Ok, once all the coats are dry you are going to cut the excess of the tissue paper off right at the line. I used baby or nail scissors they worked perfectly because of their small size. You will notice once the eggs are all dry if you tap it on the counter a little they sound like the are plastic. LOL

You will put the tissue paper eggs back into the plastic egg. Next you will cut a strip, I just took a piece of heavy white card stock but you could match the color of your tissue paper. You are going to take the strip and glue it to the inside of the egg. If you look at the egg one has a lip or edge on it. That is the one you want to glue it to. The reason you put the tissue paper egg back inside the plastic one is because when gluing the strip you have to add a bit of pressure to the side of the egg. The plastic egg supports the tissue paper one so you don't crush it.

You want to make sure the strip is above the egg a bit. The top of the egg will fit over the edge of the strip.

Make sure the strip is thoroughly dry before putting the top on.

Now decorate your egg. I used the Mod Podge to glue on my ribbon. I tried all kinds of glue and it was not working. I even tried hot glue but that made the ribbon look bulky where the glue was applied.

My finished egg decorated. What I did when putting the ribbon on, I only glued half of it to the top so when the top of the egg fits over the strip the bottom of the ribbon hides the edge a bit. That's about it, if you have any questions just ask. Would love to see your finished eggs.